Friday, February 22, 2013

This is the third of three Ben excerpts that formerly comprised chapters one and two of Gar! Read excerpts oneand two to refresh your memory.

In this final excerpt we see Ben struggling to forge his own path at school and at home while he works to unravel the mystery of the meteorite that wiped out Ada.

* * * *

At lunch Ben emerged from the stairwell
leading down into the basement-level cafeteria. He looked for a place to sit.
The ceiling was low, and Ben unconsciously hunched as he walked. He found a
half-empty table near a corner of the room. He pulled out a chair.

“That seat’s taken,” said a little girl
at the other end of the table.

“You sure?” Don’t let a seven-year-old boss you around. “What about this
one?” Ben pulled out the next chair.

“It’s taken too, and if you try to sit
with us, I’ll call my big brother over here.”

“Hey! We’ve got a live one.” Mr. James
chuckled. “Ben, I’m Mr. James, assistant principal. What grade are you in?”

Ben looked irritated. “Fourth grade.”

“Ah, I know who you can sit with!
Follow me.”

Ben stood reluctantly.

Sarah said, “Don’t forget to push in
your chair.” She stuck her tongue out at Ben.

Mr. James walked down an aisle of tables
and stopped in front of Danny Saunders and his friends. “Here we are.
Gentlemen, how are your lunches?” Mr. James asked.

“Pretty good, Mr. James. Mom packed me
egg salad,” said Danny. He crammed a bite of the sandwich into his mouth.

“Well, I have someone I’d like you to
meet.” Mr. James stepped aside. The boys saw Ben standing awkwardly. The yellow
glow of the cafeteria lights made everyone look sick. “This is Ben. He’s new in
town. Danny, I thought you could take him under your wing?”

Danny stopped chewing and smiled. Bits
of egg were stuck at the corners of his mouth. He elbowed his friends on either
side. “Sure thing, Mr. James. Come on over and sit with us, Ben.” One of
Danny’s friends patted the seat of an empty chair.

“I knew I could count on you boys.
Enjoy your lunches now.” Mr. James turned to Ben. “If you have any questions
about our new school, come see me in the main office.”

“Sure.” Ben sat down slowly.

Mr. James walked away with a smile on
his face.

Bobby, one of the boys sitting at the
table, said, “So, weirdo, couldn’t find any friends? Had to have old man James
find them for you?”

Ben ignored the comment, opened his
lunchbox, and began eating a cold chicken leg. He looked up and could tell the
boys were planning something. He asked, “So, what have you all been doing these
last couple of weeks? I haven’t seen any kids in town.”

“No one said you could talk!” said
Danny.

“Yeah, don’t talk, Benji!”

“Fine.” Ben scooted back. Out of reach,
he finished eating his chicken.

Danny put his fist in his other hand,
“Man, if Mr. James wasn’t watching us, I’d shove that chicken bone down your
throat. Find another place to sit tomorrow.”

Ben looked around the cafeteria. He
didn’t see any friendly faces. In fact, none of the kids looked Ben’s way. The
only people who looked at him were the adults. Ben saw an unoccupied table by
the garbage bin. I guess that’s where
I’ll sit from now on.

“I think you’re done,” Danny said.

“Yeah, scram, weirdo.”

Ben picked up his lunchbox and went out
to recess.

I
don’t want to be friends with any of these kids anyway.

* * * *

A few weeks later, Mrs. Birch
announced, “Students, today we are going to start doing research for our first
science presentation!”

Ben watched his classmates. No one
groaned or talked after Mrs. Birch announced the project. They just waited for
further instruction.

“That means we’re going to the library.
Mrs. Trumble and the other librarians will show you how to find information on
a scientific topic so you can present it to the class!”

The students cheered. Ben was surprised
by their excitement. I guess they really
like field trips.

The library was a few blocks away from
the school. To get there, the class walked single-file through a newly
landscaped park. On the way, Ben thought about what he wanted to do his project
on: meteorites. He noticed that his classmates were talking about other things,
not their projects. That’s not what they did. They’ll wait for more instructions and then…try to follow them.Ben
didn’t think his classmates were stupid, just obedient.

When the class arrived at the library,
they were led to a rug and asked to sit. They did. Ben was not surprised to see
the big sheet of paper entitled, “Topics in Science” tacked on the wall in
front of them. Ben read through the list of topics while his classmates settled
in.

Ben raised his hand. “Mrs. Birch?” he
asked.

“Yes, Ben?”

“Are those the only topics we can
choose from?” Ben pointed to the list.

Mrs. Birch started, “Well—”

“What’s your name young man?” asked one
of the librarians.

“Ben.”

“Hello, Ben. I’m Mrs. Trumble, the head
librarian.” She gave Ben a cold smile. “Mrs. Birch, did you know I’ve never met
Ben before.”

“Really? Well, Ben just moved to town.”
Mrs. Birch looked flustered.

“Have you never been to story hour, Ben?”
Mrs. Trumble asked.

Story
hour! What the heck?“No.” Ben was annoyed that no one was answering his
question. He shook his head.

Mrs. Trumble narrowed her eyes at Ben
before she turned back to Mrs. Birch and the class. “Mrs. Birch? Let us begin.” She smoothed the ruffles on her shirt with her hands.

During the next half hour, Mrs. Trumble
spoke vaguely about how the students would prepare for and present their chosen
science topic to the class. She pointed to the white sheet with topics listed.
The students nodded. No one acted out. No one asked questions.

Why
are they like this around adults?

Mrs. Trumble dismissed the class to
start their research.

As the students started moving around
and talking, Mrs. Birch said, “Remember, you need to tell me what topic you
will be presenting before we go back to school. If you don’t have one, I’ll
choose one for you!” She was looking at Ben.

There was a cart of books set aside for
the students. The class lined up to select books on their topic. Ben walked
past them toward the card catalog.

Maybe
Mrs. Birch will let me do meteorites.

Ben looked up meteorites, but was
surprised when he found nothing. He tried “asteroids”, then “falling stars”,
then “outer space”, and “shooting stars”. Nothing. He tried a title search
using the same words. There were a few books on “astronauts” and “space”.

Finally.

Ben walked past a shorter line of
students who were struggling to find books on the cart without assistance.

“I can’t find rockets. Where’s
rockets?” Danny Saunders asked.

Ben went to the science section of the
library. He looked over his shoulder and saw Mrs. Trumble glance his way. He
slipped behind the stack he was looking for.

She’s
the spookiest librarian I’ve ever met. And that voice! She’s worse than the
robot people cleaning up around the gash...

Ben looked through two shelves of
science books, but didn’t find anything on meteorites.

Wait,
I know!

Ben walked over to a set of
encyclopedias. He took out the ‘M’ volume.

Meteorites!

“Mrs. Birch? Look.” He brought the book to his teacher. “Can I do meteorites?” He showed her the topic in the
encyclopedia.

“Why would you ask? You know it’s not
on the list, Ben.” Mrs. Birch turned away to help students who were unable to
help themselves. “Hold on Stephanie. Danny asked first.”

Ben thrust the encyclopedia at Mrs.
Birch again. “But—”

“Ben! You heard Mrs. Trumble. We’re
only presenting topics on the list.” She pushed the encyclopedia aside. “Now,
you’d better hurry up or I’ll pick a topic for you.” Mrs. Birch took two steps away from Ben, moving on to the next problem. “Danny, let’s take a look at this book. See,
it’s called ‘Blast Off.’” Mrs. Birch pointed at the title.

“Yeah. So?” Danny said.

Ben carried the encyclopedia back to
the reference section.

“I’ll take that,” said one of the
librarians, lifting the book out of Ben’s hand. “You know what ison the list?”

“Bridges,” Ben said.

“Yes, bridges. But, since you like
meteorites, there is a topic left that I thought you might find more
interesting.” The librarian glanced around.

Ben looked at her. She was paying
attention. “What’s your name?” he asked.

“I’m Mrs. White. So, do you want to
guess?”

Ben looked back at the big sheet of
paper. There were deep red lines drawn through the topics that had been picked.
Ben saw what Mrs. White meant. “Rocks,” he said.

She whispered, “That’s right—”

Mrs. Trumble called from across the
room, “Mrs. White? I need your assistance.”

Mrs. White looked nervous for a moment.

“Thanks,” Ben said. “I’ll give it a
try.”

Mrs. White gave Ben a quick smile and
walked away.

* * * *

“Ben! Dinner’s ready.”

“I’m working on my project, Mom. Can I
eat later like Grandma?”

Ben’s mother turned the knob on his
bedroom door. Ben was sitting in the middle of the floor with books spread
around him.

“You’re still working on that rock
project? You’ve been doing nothing but reading those books for two weeks. Don’t
you think you know enough about rocks by now, dear?”

“Yes, I’m working on my rock project. And no,
I can never know enough. There’s a lot to this…more than rocks.”

Ben’s mother looked uneasy.

“Can I just come down later?”

She sighed. “All right, I suppose so.
I’ll put another plate in the oven.”

Ben had read about igneous,
sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks, and was trying to place the meteorite in
one of those categories. He was having trouble. I don’t know enough yet.At the same time, Ben was trying to find
out how the gash in the earth had disappeared so quickly. From what he had
read, it would take hundreds of years for that to happen. Soil doesn’t just ‘grow’ like a vegetable. There must be some
explanation for all of this. I just need to know more. Keep reading…

* * * *

“Like I was saying, there are three
kinds of rocks: Igneous—”

“You’re an ignoramus!” someone near the
back of the classroom shouted.

“Students!” Mrs. Birch scolded.

Ben ignored the comment and continued
his presentation. He had an array of rock samples that he had collected on the
table in front of him. He picked up examples of each type of rock as he talked.
He held up a sparkly gray and white rock and stepped to the side of his
hand-drawn rock cycle poster. “This is granite, an intrusive igneous rock. So,
what does that mean? And how does it get here, to the surface? Like this.” Ben
moved the rock along a pathway on his diagram and explained how it was formed.

“Where’s your volcano? That’s where it
comes out, dummy!” Danny said.

“Well, that can happen,” Ben said.

“I know. I just said it!” Danny
laughed. His friends joined in.

“Danny Saunders! Out in the hall!” Mrs.
Birch pointed.

“Aww, man.” Danny pushed his desk away
and walked toward the door.

Mrs. Birch followed Danny into the hall
and closed the door behind them.

Ben stood awkwardly in front of the
class. “I guess I’ll keep going,” he said. “So, now that this igneous rock is
at the earth’s surface, there are a lot of things that can happen to it.” Ben
pointed to a branching pathway on his diagram.

Friday, February 15, 2013

FRESH GUACAMOLE by PES is my favorite Oscar nominee in the animated short category. It is the shortest and most cogent film in its group. If you have a few minutes, I recommend watching all of PES' short films. I think I've watched THE DEEP at least ten times.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

I
posted the first part of this former Gar! chapter in the middle of
January (Gar, remember?). In this excerpt, we
pick up where we left off. Ben McIntyre is trying to make sense of Ada and
life after the meteorite strike.

* * * *

The McIntyres sold their farm in
Riverdale and moved in with Grandma Verbena. Ben’s parents and grandmother did
not answer his questions about their missing family. They did not seem to want
his help with the move either, so Ben tried to stay out of the way. Wearing his
other pair of shoes, Ben took his uncle’s notepad down to the gash and spent
his time documenting what was happening.

The gash was disappearing, but not the
way it had in Ben’s dream. The gash filled in with new, dark, rich soil, unlike
any that had ever occupied this part of Ada. Ben wrote in the notepad that the
gash “seemed to be healing, like a cut on the arm.”

In downtown Ada, a few days after the
meteorite landed, Ben asked the townspeople questions about what they had seen
and what they were doing. Most did not respond.

“Has anyone noticed it’s getting
smaller?”

No one looked at Ben or the void he was
pointing at. They were too busy throwing the remains of the damaged town into
it.

Ben saw the butcher and asked him,
“Don’t you want some of your stuff? Like your knives? Or maybe you want to keep
some evidence of what happened?”

The butcher said, “Why don’t you go
play? It’s story hour. That’s where all the other kids your age are.”

“At the library? But I want to know
what’s going on here,” said Ben.

The butcher looked blank.

Have
they all been programmed?

The gash was so long that Ben could not
inspect all the changes in one day. Each morning while his parents were moving
in, Ben picked a different direction. He traveled west toward the river one
day, and east toward the bay the next. Because the gash was disappearing, Ben
made a simple map that charted the changing landscape. In both directions,
vegetation was growing where the gash had “healed.” Ben tried digging into the
soil where the plants were growing west of town. He was not able to with his
hands.

Ben wrote, “It’s like cement. Just like
where my shoes were buried.”

Ben marked the place on his map. A few
days later, Ben tried to dig in the same spot using a pick he had borrowed from
the pile of tools in town. He still could not loosen the soil.

How
is that possible?

After a week had passed, the gash was
no longer visible west of town. In downtown Ada, the gash resembled nothing
more than a partially dug up street. The edges of the two square block area the
gash had occupied, where the remaining storefronts had clung, were bare. A
visitor would not have known that a downtown ever existed there. Toward the
bay, the gash was getting smaller, but Ben stayed away from that stretch now.
The grasses and vines that were growing over the ground reminded Ben of his
dream.

* * * *

On a Saturday morning, a week after the
McIntyre’s had settled in on the farm, Ben’s father made an announcement at
breakfast. “Ben, I enrolled you in school—fourth grade. It starts Monday.”

“What? How can they start school when
there…isn’t one?” Ben asked.

“Go have a look for yourself."

Ben’s mother filled both their plates
with grits. Grandma Verbena usually did the cooking in her own house, but lately
she was spending more of her mornings in bed.

I
was just in town yesterday afternoon. Nothing’s there.

“Mom, Dad, have you been to town since
the meteorite hit?” Ben asked.

“No,” said Ben’s mother.

Ben’s father shook his head. “I wish
you’d stop saying that. And if you hadn’t noticed, we’ve been busy.”

“Ben, listen to your mother. You have
to keep that nonsense to yourself. And don’t start arguing. Just go along and
try to make some friends this year.”

“I had friends in Riverdale!”

Ben's father ignored the comment and began to eat.

Ben excused himself from the table and
went outside. He walked up the hill on his grandparents’ farm. When he reached
the top, he looked down at Ada. He rubbed his eyes. “How did they… How could it
be built already? There was nothing there…no buildings, nothing, yesterday!”What remained of the gash in downtown Ada had
healed over night. A new town stood in its place. There were buildings with
stores inside them. Ben watched cars and trucks move around on paved streets that
looked as though they had always been there. He watched people open doors to stores
that were sitting on top of where the gash had been. Ben gulped for air. “How did
this happen in one night? It’s not possible! What if it sinks into the ground?”
Ben choked back tears of frustration.

He sat down on the hill as if the wind
had been knocked out of him. I don’t
remember reading about this kind of thing after a meteorite hits.

* * * *

On Ben’s first day of school, his
mother waved goodbye from the porch. Ben walked down the driveway, purposefully
taking the long way to Ada. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach, and
thought the walk might help him get rid of it. He tried to ignore the feeling
and listened to the birds instead.

The school was about a half-mile from
downtown Ada. The building was set back from the road, and as Ben approached, it
wasn’t immediately clear to him how to get there. Ben saw some children who
seemed to know the way and followed them.

I
haven’t seen any kids since the meteorite. Maybe they’re just as confused about
what’s going on as I am.

As they walked up the winding driveway
to the building, Ben watched the other children. They talked and laughed with
one another. They seemed ordinary.

Inside the school, older students were waiting
at the entrance to greet the younger students.

“Hello! Welcome to Thomas Jefferson. What
grade are you in?”

“Um, fourth,” Ben said.

“Fourth grade! Right this way!”

Ben was funneled down a hallway full of
children, doors, and adults. He passed a bulletin board hanging between two
classrooms. It read: Welcome to 4th Grade!

Ben walked into the classroom. He found
his seat and waited while other students did the same. Ben thought the room
smelled strange, like something he shouldn’t inhale.

“Who are you?” asked a bigger boy who
sat next to Ben.

“Ben McIntyre. I just moved here.” Ben
read the other boy’s name card. “And you’re Danny Saunders?”

“How’d you know that?!”

“It’s right there. On your desk.”

“Oh. Smart guy, huh?” Danny looked at
Ben like he was from outer space. He turned to a neighboring student and
whispered something. They both laughed.

Mrs. Birch came in after a bell
sounded. She welcomed the class and told them that they were going to take a
tour of the new school. “But before we go on our first field trip,” she said, clasping
her hands in anticipation, “I would like you to meet our one and only new
student this year. Ben? Will you come up here and introduce yourself?”

Ben was not prepared for an audience, but
he rose from his seat and went to the front of the room. Standing there, he
felt everyone’s eyes on him. He looked at his feet then at Mrs. Birch. She
nodded.

He pressed his hands flat against his
thighs and looked back at the roomful of kids. “Hi, I’m Ben McIntyre. I used to
live in Riverdale, but moved here when the meteorite hit.”

Danny Saunders snorted. “What? Ha, ha.
What’s a meteorite?”

“Danny!” Mrs. Birch scolded.

“Well, it’s a meteor that hits the
earth,” Ben said. “And I found it at the end of the gash, in the Mud
River. It was green and—”

Mrs. Birch interrupted, “Ben—”

“—glowing in the sand at the bottom of
the river—”

“Ben!”

The students started giggling.

“—and—”

“Ben! Ben! All right. Thank you for
sharing…and welcome to Ada!” Mrs. Birch placed a firm hand on Ben’s shoulder. She
whispered, “You don’t need to make up stories, you know. You’re from Riverdale.
That is interesting enough.” She ushered Ben back to his seat. Then brushed her
hands together as if she’d just disposed of trash.

Some of the students were still giggling.

“Well, are we ready to see the new building,
students?!” cheered Mrs. Birch.